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Farewell to Ambassador Filhol

Published on 05 Nov 2012

Senior members of the diplomatic corps, ASEF partners and supporters attended a farewell reception in honour of Ambassador Michel Filhol, outgoing Executive Director of the Asia-Europe Foundation. The reception was held on 17 October 2012 in Singapore.

During the reception, ASEF Deputy Executive Director Mr Karsten Warnecke expressed his admiration for Ambassador Filhol, highlighting his important contributions to ASEF. “On behalf of all ASEF staff, it is my sad pleasure to express our gratitude to Ambassador Michel Filhol, for his level-headed, even-handed and good-hearted leadership during the last year at the helm of the ASEF ship,” he said.

Responding, Ambassador Filhol expressed his heartfelt appreciation to those who came to the reception, and paid tribute to the ASEF staff for helping further the ambitions of the Foundation. He also shared his thoughts, stating that “I have stand for this 13 months mandate since it represented both a mission and a challenge. I have the impression that the ASEF Staff and I, with the support of our Board, have succeeded to keeping high the ASEF agenda with respect to the Asia Europe relation.”

Ambassador Filhol’s turn as ASEF’s Executive Director ended on 31 October 2012. He is succeeded by Ambassador Zhang Yan who was China’s Ambassador to India before taking over the helm at ASEF.